Canaan
by AdAbolendam
Summary: What happened to the survivors of the 12 colonies after they found Earth? How is it that Hera became our mitochondrial 'Eve' And what was Starbuck anyway? Three vignettes that suggest some answers.
1. Chapter 1

_ "You are a harbinger of death, Kara Thrace…"_—The Hybrid

"Hera, walk, don't run! Come on sweetie, you're old enough to know better. The Commander just got this place looking nice!"

"Sorry…" Hera mumbled.

"It's okay, Hera," the old man muttered good-naturedly. "I don't think there's anything in here that can break anyhow."

Sharon "Athena" Valerii turned to her husband who had just walked in the door, and shot him a look of arch meaning, "Karl, would you mind taking Hera outside?"

Karl Agathon took the hint and took his daughter's hand, "Come on, babe. Let's leave the adults to talk amongst themselves."

"Sorry about that, Commander."

Commander Adama smiled. "She's got a lot of energy. I guess she has plenty of exploring to make up for, spending the first years of her life cooped up in a ship."

"We didn't feel cooped up Commander," Athena consoled him. "Galactica was home."

"It was no place for a growing child."

"That may be," she conceded. "I worry about her though. Just Karl and me for company. There's going to be a time when she's going to want someone her own age. We can barely keep up with her as it is."

"You haven't aged a day," Adama contradicted, observing her though dusty spectacles.

"Not on the outside," Athena said softly.

"Will you?"

"Age?"

"Do Cylons get old?" Adama wondered aloud. "Will you get stooped and wrinkled like the rest of us? Or will watch us all wither away?"

Athena was quiet for awhile, "Will we live for thousands of years like Ellen and Saul and Galen? I don't know. I suppose we could."

"Seems like a great gift."

"A gift?"

"A great gift," Adama repeated. "Where will we be in another millennia? What great accomplishments will our descendents create? How will we be remembered? Will we be remembered? Will we even survive?"

"You'd want to be alive to see all of that?"

"I'm an old man, Athena," Adama looked out the opening in the far wall that served as a window on his small cabin. "At the end of his life, more is all an old man wants."

"You'd want to live forever? Even if it was alone?" Athena paused. "Even if it meant a lifetime without her? Without Laura?"

Adama smiled sadly, his gaze settled on the rocky grave outside his cabin.

"When I was in the brig, I had a lot of time to read," Athena said.

"Didn't think we allowed literature in lock-up," Adama observed.

"Karl used to sneak in books when he came to visit. I always thought you knew."

"I might have turned a blind eye," he admitted.

"One of the books was something he read as a boy," Athena continued. "I don't remember the name of it. In the story, a exploration ship from Caprica landed on an uncharted world and discovered a new race of men. The Capricans were so in love with the new planet that they never returned to the colonies. They lived in harmony with the other race of men for several years.

"Eventually however, the Capricans became jealous. The men of the new planet were immortal and the Capricans wanted the gift of immortality for themselves. The two races were on the brink of war when one night, the goddess Athena appeared to the commander of the Capricans in a dream. She told him not to be envious, for the Colonists of Kobol had been granted a gift that the men of the new would never have or understand. She told him that the gift was death and that it was something to be envied, for what lay on the other side was something that immortals would never know.

"You're not immortal, Lieutenant Valerii."

"No…" she trailed off, lost in a memory.

"Did you see… the other side of death?" Adama paused. "Before you, came back?"

"I thought you didn't believe in all that, sir," Athena smiled.

"Well," Adama shook his head. "I've seen a lot of things…"

"We all have, sir." Athena followed his gaze out of the window to where her husband were chasing each other. "I'm not immortal, Commander. And I would never want to be."


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you doing here, Leoben?"

"What kind of greeting is that for a former soldier-in-arms, Caprica?"

The tall, blonde regarded the man standing in her doorway.

"I thought all 2's migrated to the southern subcontinent."

"Not all of us," Leoben smiled. "I, uh, missed the boat."

"Why?"

"Are you going to let me in?"

Caprica Six looked over her shoulder, surveying the empty house. "Gaius is out in the garden. If he tells you to leave when he gets back, I want you gone."

Leoben put up his hands in a gesture of surrender, "Fine, fine, I don't want a fight. Especially with that strapping husband of yours."

"He's not my husband."

Caprica closed the door behind her guest as he crossed the threshold.

"Nice place you got here," Leoben shrugged off his jacket and tossed it on to a nearby stool.

Caprica sat across from him at a chair beside a roughly-hewn table.

"We've made do nicely, thank you," she cocked her head to the side. "So why did you stay behind?"

Leoben grinned took a seat on the floor. "I was looking for _her_."

His answer was met with a predictable eye-roll and laughter. "God, Leoben! Kara Thrace is dead! Whether she died on that planet with the thirteenth tribe or she died here, she is dead. Gone. You were obsessed when she was alive and now…" Caprica trailed off and shook her head.

"The last place anyone saw her was on this continent." Leoben continued undeterred. "Saul said—"

"You talked to Saul?" She interrupted.

"Oh… yes," Leoben replied silkily. "I forgot your little… tryst…"

"That was a long time ago," she said quietly. "How is he?"

"He and Ellen are doing quite well. When I left them a year ago they were planning on moving further north with some of the other survivors from the fleet. Apparently, there's some great sea or lake or something on the northern coast… can I finish what I was saying?"

"Please," Caprica smiled sarcastically.

"Saul said she was last seen when Adama and Roslin left for the east coast in that Raptor. But other members of the fleet swear that they have seen her after that. In visions."

"Visions?" Caprica replied skeptically.

"Didn't your husband claim to have seen angels?"

"You're saying that Kara Thrace is an angel?" She sighed. "Leoben, you have got to find someone, or something else to fixate on."

Leoben's retort was cut off by the door creaking open.

"We've got to repair that hole on the north side of the fence, or… oh…" Gaius Baltar turned around to face the room. "Darling, you didn't tell us we had a guest. I would have put a kettle on."

Gaius crossed the room to where Caprica was sitting.

"Leoben showed up quite unannounced," her gaze never left the Cylon's face.

"Good to see you again, Gaius," Leoben half-waved from his spot on the floor. "I see you're going with the incarcerated look," he indicated Gaius's beard. "Very rugged."

"Leoben was just explaining a new pet theory to me, darling," Caprica rubbed Gaius's shoulders. "Apparently, thinks that Kara Thrace has come back to the fleet in visions. He believes that she is an angel."

"That's not what I—

"He thinks that you have some expertise on the subject."

"I did not—

Gaius chuckled. "Starbuck? An angel? The woman who smoked cigars and threw punches at her commanding officers? Come now, Leoben, one doesn't have to be a professional to know that those are not the deeds of an angelic being."

"I didn't say she was an angel or a goddess or-" Leoben collected himself. "I just meant to say that… I don't think she's gone."

Gaius and Caprica exchanged glances.

"Well, it's true that the dead never really leave us…" Gaius said sardonically.

"I think she was something else…" Leoben looked past them, thinking out loud. "I think she was some kind of divine invention."

Caprica was tired. Leoben always made her tired.

"What are you doing here really Leoben? Did you trek all this way just to bounce supernatural theories around for an audience?"

"No," Leoben stood up and walked toward the stool where he laid his jacket. "The hybrid said something to Kara."

Caprica licked her lips impatiently.

"She said Kara Thrace was a harbinger of death. I thought the hybrid had made a mistake. I mean, Kara lead us all here! To man and cylon's ultimate salvation, right?"

He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a metal cylinder.

"What is that?" Caprica asked.

"It's a long-distance radio."

"You're not supposed to—

"One of the other 2's had the other one. He used it as a log book, reported how the others were faring on the southern continent. The transmissions came further and further apart. The last one was six months ago. It was a woman. She said she was the last survivor. The rest of the survivors were wiped out by disease, humans and cylons alike. I haven't heard from anyone since."

He clicked on the transponder. Static filled the one-room cabin.

"How long will it be until we all like them?"

Leoben shrugged on his jacket and walked towards the door.

"Anyway, I just thought you'd want to know. They were your people too."

He opened the door.

"Leoben," Caprica broke the silence. "Thank you for telling us."

He nodded and closed the door behind him.

Gaius and Caprica sat together absorbing the news.

"Do you believe that?"

"What?"

Caprica looked at him. After the years of mutual solitude, words became less necessary.

"No," he concluded. "I don't. We still have Hera. She's meant to survive. We didn't save her for no reason. She will outlast us all. She's our legacy."


	3. Chapter 3

Coughs shook his entire body and cold bit through his clothes. Lee Adama knew that if he did not find shelter by sunset, it would be too late for him.

"Maybe it's better this way," He barely recognized his own voice, so long had it been since last he used it.

He used the last of his reserves of strength to reach the top of a rocky hill that skimmed the tree line. His eyes were not what they once were, but after several minutes of squinting, he made out a column of smoke against the horizon. By his reckoning, it was less than a click from where he stood.

"Alright, you old bastard. Here I come."

The sun was just setting when he neared the clearing next to the river. He heard the unmistakable sound of a trigger being cocked.

"I thought you were commanded to abandon all technology, Chief," Lee growled raising his hands.

"Who is it?"

Lee slowly turned in the direction of the voice.

"Frak you, Galen, this is no way to greet a commanding officer!"

Galen Tyrol emerged from the forest's edge, lowering the handgun.

"Lee?" He whispered, disbelievingly.

"I look that bad?"

Galen's jaw dropped, "You look like hell…"

Lee embraced the former deck chief.

"What the hell are you doing here? _How_ did you get—

Lee interrupted the barrage of questions with a coughing fit.

"Hey, hey, alright," Galen released him. "Follow me."

In the clearing by the river bend, Galen had made a home for himself. A fire dominated the middle of the campsite, to one side was a modest tent made from scraps of tarp and animal hide, to the other side a clothesline stretched between two trees.

Lee sat next to the fire and tried to catch his breath between coughs. Galen stoked the fire and creased his eyebrows in concern.

"So Lee, I gotta ask. How'd you find me?"

Lee nodded and swallowed.

"Two years back, I came across a camp on the northern continent. Most of the people were dead. Attacked by the 'humans' that were here before us. There were about thirty or so left and they were packing up, heading west. One of the survivors was the pilot that dropped you here. She gave me coordinates."

"And you came all this way to see me? Why?"

"I'm dying, Galen."

"And you wanted to see a familiar face before the end?"

Lee's laugh dissolved into a barking cough.

"Well, you'd know better than anyone, Galen. People, humans, cylons, whatever, we're selfish. I left everyone behind right after you did. Saw a few members of the fleet along the way, a few familiar faces, a girl I used to shack up with… no one I would call a friend though. Twenty-three years, Galen, that's a long time to be alone."

"Yeah, you haven't aged gracefully."

"You haven't aged at all."

Galen smirked. "Solitude suits me."

"Sorry to ruin your peace and quiet," Lee stared at the fire. "Won't be around for much longer though."

Galen nodded. "It's good to see you again, Lee."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's good to see anyone again."

Lee felt like he was on fire that night while he lay in Galen's tent. Visions and memories floated in and out of his head. He smelled his mother's fragrance, felt his father's strong hand on his shoulder, tasted Dee's lips, heard Starbuck's laugh, felt the rumble a Viper jet engine. At dawn, he felt cold and everything grew quiet.

He sensed her standing over him before he opened his eyes. She looked just as she had the last time he saw her, on the field the day they found Earth.

"Hello Lee."

"Hello Starbuck."

"You ready to go?" She held out her hand.

He took it.

"You came back for me."

"I come back for everyone, Lee."

He got to his feet and walked with her away from the camp.

"Who are you really, Kara? Are you an angel, a goddess, a harbinger of death?"

She laughed, high-pitched and loud, with no self-consciousness, just as he remembered.

"I _am_ death, Lee. You were one of the first, but I am coming for the whole fleet and the fleet's children. Only one will survive."

"Hera," Lee concluded.

Starbuck nodded.

"Why?"

"It's just the plan, Lee. Our time is over. The freedom we had on Earth was our reward for finally forgiving each other."

"The cylons and the humans?"

Starbuck nodded again.

"And Hera is our legacy," Lee concluded.

"We will all live on in her."

"And what about us?"

"Us?"

"The ones that you take. Is this it? Or is there a plan for us too?"

Kara Thrace grinned, "There's a plan for everyone, Lee. Death is just another part it. It is a gift. The greatest gift of all."


End file.
